Hello, sweet escape.
I work the cork free with my thumb, inhale a shaky breath, and then pour the warm liquid over my wound. Golden fireworks shoot through my veins—the prettiest thing I’ve seen all night—smothering my insides in warm honey. I toss my purse into the wall, and the opening vanishes, along with all traces of blood.
Behind me, the door creaks, and the pretty Tuath from the shadows slips inside. The starlight racing beneath my skin dances on her soft features. Her pert nose. Her full mouth.
“You’re in the wrong room,” I say when she comes closer. The ladies’ privy is at the other end of the bar.
Silver hair falls over the shoulders of her low-cut black dress when she shakes her head, a coy smile playing on her lips as she continues forward until our chests brush. “I don’t think I am,” she murmurs, her dark gaze falling to my lips. She eases forward, and her mouth lands on mine. My back meets the rough cinderblocks, her soft, supple breasts pinning me there as I let her take whatever she wants.
When her warm hand slides into my trousers and clasps around me, my body responds with each exhilarating stroke. I groan against her lips, sinking into the brightest place in my mind, laced with starlight, until the echoingthudof splintering wood forces my eyes open.
The woman shrieks and stumbles back, revealing that Tuath mountain, who moves like lightning. Or maybe he’s slow and I’m just slower. Hard to tell. Either way, his hand ends up around my throat.
Diffuse the situation.That is what the king would say to do.
And that is exactly why I smile despite the blackness speckling the edge of my vision and say, “Give us a minute. We’re not finished yet.”
I don’t see his fist but feel it hit my poor, unfortunate face. Warmth trickles down my lips and chin. Bell flies into the room like an avenging angel, wings spread and sword drawn. The mountain throws him off as if he is an annoying flea, catching my collar, choking me as he drags me back into the bar. I get in one good punch, but the mountain doesn’t so much as flinch, kicking open the front door and throwing me into the fresh air.
My spine slams onto the unforgiving cobblestones. Icy muck seeps into my hair. My clothes. Not exactly how I planned my night to go, but I’ve had worse. Laughter surges inside me as I stumble to my feet. “If you want me to stay down, you’ll have to hit harder than that.”
The man’s fist batters my face again. I go down hard, my head cracking against the ground. If my nose wasn’t broken before, it is now. I blink up at the clouds, so heavy and dark. When I blink again, I find myself staring into a pair of startled, golden eyes framed by the thickest lashes I’ve ever seen.
I wait for her to vanish. She always vanishes, no matter how much I wish she’d stay. This time, though, she isn’t going away.
“Hello,” I whisper, reaching out a hand to touch her beautiful face.
One more.
That’s all I want. One more stolen moment.
She’s there and then she is gone.
Only she doesn’t vanish into the mist like every other time I’ve imagined her. The crowd flooding the streets sweeps her away, and I lose her in the sea of bodies.
I lurch to my feet, scanning the faces swimming around me. Where did they all come from? Someone yanks the back of my shirt, dragging me through the crowd toward a group ofguards on the far side of the street. They close around me, an impenetrable wall of scowls and muscles.
Bell releases me with a curse, raking his fingers through his shoulder-length hair.
“I saw her,” I gasp. Gods and heavens and stars above, I saw her! When I try to wedge myself between two men, they close ranks, penning me in. “I demand you let me through.I saw her.” Bell’s narrowed gaze locks with mine. “She was there. Didn’t you see?” I scrub a hand down my face, moaning when I accidentally graze my sore nose. “Tell me you saw her.”
“You’re high as a fucking cloud,” he shoots back. “You didn’t see anything.”
I might be high, but I know what I saw. “This isn’t like the last time. Isawher.” I try to force my way through again, but the soldiers’ wings flare, giving me no way out but up toward the endless gray. Before I can drop my glamour, Bell clamps a hand on my shoulder.
“Let me prove it to you.” All he has to do is trust me. “Please. You can come and see for yourself.”
He has been with me the longest. He knows how important this is.
Bell heaves a heavy sigh but lets me go, nodding to two of the guards who then step aside. I run back to the square. Which way did she go?
“Prince Senan!” a woman shouts. I whirl, but the one waving isn’t the woman I want. More shouts echo. Women grab my arms, my shirt, my belt, making one salacious offer after another. I’m not interested in any of them, but the more I turn, the more lost I become. Bell tries to fend them off, but they keep coming.
I’m so fucking confused, my head feels like it’s actually spinning. I blow out a breath and brace my hands on my kneesuntil the spinning stops. This time, when Bell takes my arm, he does so gently, as if I might shatter all over these stones.
“I saw her.”
“Sure you did.”